Tom Ross

Christmas doesn’t come again for 292 days, but that didn’t stop us from partaking in a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner Sunday night.

Tomten (Swedish Santa Claus) didn’t come down the chimney to stuff our stockings, but Bitti Wiik stuffed our tummies with a wonderfully mild anchovy casserole the likes of which I have never tasted. It’s called Jansson’s Temptation, and I swear I’m not making that part up. But now I know why Jansson couldn’t resist the dish.

We gathered with Bitti and her husband, Sven, her granddaughter Kajsa Lindgren, daughter Birgitta Lindgren and treasured neighbors Craig and Mo Schifter around a compact wood-burning kitchen that Bitti still uses to prepare meals. The Schifters are great conversationalists, even if they don’t speak Swedish.

Our Christmas-in-March dinner was served smorgasbord style, beginning with seafood dishes and wonderful bread. It included pickled herring, which always was served on Christmas Eve in my childhood home even though we don’t have any Scandinavian heritage.

The casserole, with layers of potatoes, anchovies and onions in a cream sauce, was masterfully blended. If you think anchovies have an impossibly strong flavor, you haven’t tasted Bitti’s anchovy casserole. It was well complemented by deviled eggs.

I should point out that Bitti actually is Danish. She had the good fortune to marry a handsome Swedish skier and college educator, Sven Wiik, who immigrated to Gunnison and ultimately found his way north to Steamboat. I’m here to tell you that Sven is a lucky guy.